A Protected Smile
by Lexi-chan
Summary: He was cared for, he was loved, and he had a protected smile. (ONE SHOT)


**A/N: I decided to change a bit of the story because I removed the song from it. Even though I changed it, I hope you'll like it. I tried my best, I'm not that good at writng long stories. Thank you so much for all your reviews.**

Yahiko went into the dojo, his shinai hung behind his back. His spiky hair had flattned down a bit and his brown eyes lay soft but determined. "Kaoru!" He feet walked from room to room. "Busu! Kenshin!" He peaked into each room, but no sign of any of them. "Kaoru! Kenshin!" 

A little child with hair like Kenshin's crawled out from the dining room. "Goo Yii Maa!!" He smiled at Yahiko who raised his eyesbrows. "Yii! Yii! Maa!" said the little baby. He seemed energetic for a little thing. 

Yahiko scooped him up. "Where's your mother?" he asked. Kenji only managed to make out baby sounds. Yahiko frowned. "That's something. If you're here, then Busu or Kenshin must be home too. Now let's go find them," he said as he walked across the dojo. It took him thirty minutes to stop searching. He paused and looked at Kenji. "Kenji-chan, where are they?" he asked. 

He began to worry. The Himuras would never leave their only child alone. Not if Kenji was just months old. Something was wrong. Yahiko's heart raced and began to panic. What could've happened to them? He ran from room to room, desperatly searching for them. 

"Kenshin! Kaoru!" He placed down young Kenji on the floor and sat beside him. "Where could they be, Kenj-chan? It's impossible that they leave you alone." He thought for a moment. Nothing came to his mind where the couple could be. He slumped back, exhausted. "Ah, Kenji-chan. I'll stay with you. Still I wonder where Busu and Kenshin are..." he said. 

Kenji grinned, he didn't understand buthe had someone to play with now. Kenji sat up and crawled to him. "Yii maa goo sii!" he said. Yahiko laughed a bit as he looked at the child with audburn hair. "Yaa Kuu!"he suddenly said. 

Yahiko turned, a grin came to his face. "Ya Ku?" he asked. Kenji nodded happily. Yahiko laughed hard and patted Kenji's head. "That's a good boy. How'd you learn to say that?" he asked. Kenji just laughed, he couldn't answer. Yahiko tickled him. "Nevermind that!" he said and tickled little Kenji more. His worry of where Kenshin and Kaoru are just faded away. 

Yahiko stayed with Kenji the whole day. He fed the little tyke with some rice that he found near the table. He placed him to bed when Kenji got too tired. Yahiko babysat him and saw something in Kenji he's never seen before. _You're so much like me._ Yahiko looked sideways. He sat near the doorway of Kenji's room. His shinai beside him. _You're a samurai's son, your laughter protected as a child._ Yahiko frowned, remembering his own childhood. 

"Oksaan! Okasaan!" He was a boy, a very young boy. Maybe three or four. His mother was a pretty woman, a loving mother. "Okasaan!" little Yahiko called as he ran to his mother who had her arms wide open for him. 

His mother caught him as his father walked near them. "How's my little Yahiko?" he asked. Yahiko smiled as his father took him from his mother's arms. "You're grwoing so fast. Soon, you'll be the world's greatest swordsman," he said. 

Yahiko laughed as he threw his hands up. "Hai, Otousan!" said Yahiko. His father lifted him up towards the sky. A sunny day, a bright day, a very happy day. Yahiko was the myoujin family's only son. He was their only child and his parents loved him so much. 

"A protected smile, Myoujin." Yahiko's father turned. A man with a bright red gi looked serious. "You shouldn't have raised your only son with a protected smile," he said gravely. 

Yahiko's father placed his son down. "Get into the house and stay with Yahiko. I'll come to you soon," he whispered to Yahiko's mother. She nodded and took Yahiko to the house. Yahiko couldn't help but remeber his father's serious face. He was serious, maybe too serious. Something he didn't know was happening. He was worried. 

"Okasaan, what's wrong?" asked little Yahiko with his bright brown eyes looking at his mother worriedly. Before he entered the house, he looked back to where the man and his father were talking. 

His mother pulled him into the hosue and closed the door behind her. "It's nothing for us to know. Now let's get supper ready." But Yahiko had never stopped worrying what they talked about. What was a protected smile? What did the man mean with him having a protected smile? Yahiko's mother turned to him. "Yahiko, come. You go help me with th rice. You have to keep that thought out of your head." 

"But that day was the very last day I had seen my father's smile," Yahiko whispered. His past was behind him now, bvut the memories will always be in his heart. "The man was right, my father shouldn't have raised me with a protected smile. He shouldn't have raised me with a protected life," he said to himself.. 

Someone moved behind him. Yahiko turned and saw Kenji, still asleep. He must've been tired by playing all day. He smiled and went to him. He pulled up the blanket that Kenji had kicked off from his sleep. 

"IEE! OTOUSAN!" Yahiko cried, his tears couldn't seize to flow. It kept on going. "IEE! OTOUSAN CAN'T BE DEAD!" The poor boy and his poor mother had recieved a letter that Myoujin died in a war. "IEE!" Yahiko screamed, he kicked. "I want my father, I want my father." Angry, bitter tears flowed from hsi eyes. "I want my father, I need my father!" he kept on calling his father, but he never came back to smile at little Yahiko. 

Just then, Yahiko looked up. "A protected smile," he whispered to himself. He looked at his crying mother who was gripping the letter so tightly. "So this is what a protected smile is." Though he had come to this answer, his tears flowed from his cheeks. 

Yahiko's mother held him close. "Yahiko, gomen nasai. I'm sorry, but your father's..." She coudln't bring herself to say it. Yahiko's mother loved the man so much. She cried as Yahiko did, the same sad tears. She held her son tightly. "Don't worry, I can raise you alone. I can raise you alone," she kept on whispering. "I can raise my son alone." 

Patters of rain woke up Yahiko from his daydream. He looked up, the sky was dark. He frowned, the rain made it worse. He used to love the rain when he played with it as a child, but that love for the rain died the day his mother passed away. 

A year had passed. Mother and son lived together. Poor, yes, but happy. "It's raining Yahiko, please come in," he mother said through her coughing. Obidiently, little Yahiko went into the house. His mother lied down on the bed. "Yahiko? Can you please get me a basin with cold water?" 

Anything for his mother. Patters of rain, patters of rain. He went outside and gathered water from the rain. He watched as the rain filled the basin. "Rain, rain," he whispered. he smiled, it felt cool to have rain int he summer. "Rain, rain." It took a while to get the basin to fill up, but it finally did. Yahiko took a cloth along with him as he entered the house. "Okasaan? Okasaan?" His mother was lying on the bed, her eyes closed. "Okasaan, here's the water." She didn't respond. Her head didn't even turn to look at him. "OKASAAN!" 

"We did everything we could to save her. We spent every penny we had on her, trying to keep that woman alive. Now, you, the son, must pay for our expenses on your mother." The Yakuza group had always been their provider after Yahiko's father died. "Pay me, boy." 

Since then, Yahiko had been a pickpocket fot Yakuza. He didn't get to keep his honor as a samurai's son. He was never honored as a part of the samurai Myoujin family. He was a dirty pickpocket. He would've been a pickpocket, a thief, if it wasn't for Kenshin and Kaoru who saved him. They treated him as a person, talked to him as a person, not like his provider before. They treated him more like a brother, a samurai's boy. 

"Yaa Kuu?" Yahiko turned. kenji had awoken from his long nap. Yahiko smiled and picked up the infant from bed. "Yaa Kuu!" Kenji said, his eyes still red from his long sleep. Kenji rubbed his eyes with his tiny, fragile hands. He looked up, his eyes flickered as he looked at Yahiko. "Yaa Kuu?" 

Yahiko smiled at him. "Your eyes," he whispered, "you have the eyes of your mother. You have the figure of your father. Kenji-chan, you have a protected smile as I did," he said. He looked outside, the rain was stopping. "And it will stay that way, forever." 

A thud came from outside. Yahiko looked up. His right hand gripping the shinai. Kenji was frightened from the thud. "Stay there." Yahiko closed the door behind him, leaving Kenji inside the room. "Who's there?" he called out. 

"Yahiko! Oh I'm so glad you're here!" Kaoru flung her arms at the young man. Yahiko was surprised. Kaoru's tears began to flow. "We thought we'd lose Kenj-chan. Oh Yahiko, Arigatou. Thank you so much for being here with Kenj-chan," she whispred through her tears. "I-I thought wed lose him for good." 

Kenshin came running behind her. "Yahiko!" He calmed down a bit. "Where's Kenji-chan, Yahiko?" he asked. He knew that his son was now in good hands, especially that Yahiko was here. He belived that even if Yahiko was envious with the boy who seemed to be like a brother to him, if ever Kenji needed him, he was there. 

Yahiko smiled. "He has just woken up," he replied, his smiled fading. "Where have you two been? You shouldn't leave Kenji-chan alone like that. He's ain't a boy yet," he said seriously. Kaoru wiped her tears. Yahiko smiled at her. "It's okay, Kaoru." His voice was soft. 

Kaoru nodded and hugged him one more time. "I know," she answered. She slowly opened her son's door to his room. "Kenji-chan, Okasaan's so sorry," she said, her arms open wide for Kenji who ran to her crying. 

Kenshin looked at Yahiko's face expression. He knew that something was bothering him as he looked at kenji and it wasn't jelousy. "What's bothering you, Yahiko?" he asked. Yahiko didn't reply, but his eyes were glued to Kaoru kissing Kenji. "Yahiko?" 

Yahiko looked at Kenhin. "Iee," he replied and smiled. He couldn't tell Kenshin. Whatever happens, Kenji would soon learn of the world anyway. What's wrong with having a protected smile as a boy? Yahiko smiled and turned as he headed out the door. "Sayonara, Kenshin, Kaoru, Kenji-chan." He waved and hurried out of the dojo. 

**A/N: What do you think? Was it nice? I hope you liked it because I really gave it my best shot. Thanks a lot for your support and please review again! **


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